You Just Have Something That I Need
by QuietLittleVoices
Summary: Dean needs a nanny to take care of his young daughter, Emma. He ends up getting a lot more than he bargained for. ((Nanny!Cas/Dad!Dean))


**A/N: **written as a birthday gift for a friend; un-beta'd/edited; title from Can't Stop by Mozella

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Dean would argue with anyone who opposed the notion that Emma wasn't the single greatest thing to have happened to him. Yes, when she'd arrived in the world, he'd had to take a lot of time off work because her mother hadn't wanted to be involved. And yes, it had meant pay setbacks and job setbacks, but his boss and long-time family friend Bobby Singer had understood.

It wasn't until Emma was seven that Dean considered bringing in outside help to keep everything in his household running smoothly. In fact, it wasn't even Dean who'd considered it initially. It was Sam, on a morning at the end of August, right before the school year was starting up.

"You need a nanny," Sam told him in the no-nonsense manner that he'd learned from his older brother.

Dean had scowled but that night had looked through the phonebook for a nanny agency. It was just to humour Sam, he told himself. Though as he thought about it, it made sense. With a nanny, he wouldn't have to take off work to get Emma to and from school and could work more hours – and more hours meant more money, which was something Dean was almost always in need of. He tried to find the cheapest nanny agency that still looked legitimate and ended up calling up _Angel Sitters_ and set up a meeting for the next day when he got off work. Emma would be with Sam's wife, Jess, as she usually was during weekdays. Jess having twins had been a blessing to Dean because now his sister-in-law could also take care of his daughter, who wasn't nearly as much of a handful as her own children.

The office of the agency was all pastel colours inside and fluffy objects. It set Dean on edge, but it did give off a comforting vibe. He figured that if someone who worked in this kind of environment was taking care of his daughter then she was probably in good hands.

He stood in the lobby awkwardly until a small redheaded woman walked in with a smile, holding her hand out towards him. "I'm Anna; you must be Dean! We spoke on the phone. You're looking for someone to care for your daughter after school?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah. If they can pick her up and bring her home and then just stay until I get home from work at six that would be all I need."

"Alright. If you can just follow me this way to my office we can get started looking at some portfolios if you'd like?" She gestured down the hallway and he started to follow her. "I have a few that I think would be best suited. We can also talk about your, and your daughter's, individual needs."

Her office was at the end of the hallway and was coloured much the same as the rest of the floor. When they got there she told him to take a seat and then sat behind her desk, pulling out a stack of files from a drawer.

"That looks like a lot," Dean stated.

Anna smiled at him reassuringly. "I can just give you the important information on each of the people I've picked here and you can read someone's whole file if you think they might be a good fit." She picked the first folder off the pile and turned it towards him so that he could see the little wallet-sized photo of a smiling blonde woman. "That's Rachel. She's very popular, especially for families with daughters. She's been a nanny for twenty years and is highly acclaimed." Anna looked up and saw that Dean wasn't too interested so she flipped to the next one. "And this is Hester…"

The files kept coming and they were all the same to Dean. Until Anna got to the last one and hesitated. "I only included this file because he's new to our agency and needs field practice. For a simple assignment like your daughter, he'd be a good caretaker." She flipped the file towards him. "His name is Castiel."

Dean reached for the folder and flipped it open, though it was thinner than the rest. He already knew that this was the nanny for him and Emma.

Castiel came over the day before school started to meet with Emma so that she'd recognize him picking her up from school the next day, and Dean found that his little picture hadn't done him any justice. Face to face with the nanny, Dean found that his eyes were almost _too_ blue, and his hair was just this side of indecent.

"Mr Winchester, it's nice to meet you. My name is Castiel." the nanny greeted with a nod, shaking Dean's hand firmly.

"Call me Dean, please. And it's nice to meet you, too, Cas." Dean gestured for him to come into the house and closed the door behind them. "C'mon right this way, Emma's in the living room."

For the first month, Dean barely saw Cas. He'd get home from work, watch as Cas and Emma finished up whatever they were doing, thank Cas, and then watch him leave. Things changed one night when Dean got in much later than usual. Emma was already in bed when he pulled into his driveway and he found Cas sitting in the dining room with a laptop out, typing away.

"What are you working on?" Dean asked, leaning against the doorway.

Cas looked up, startled. "I – uh. I'm working on a novel," he admitted. "My aspiration is to be a published author. I started work as a nanny to pay the bills in between." He looked away, embarrassment colouring his features.

Dean nodded and walked further into the room, pulling up a chair across from Cas. "What's the book about?"

After that night, the two struck up an unlikely acquaintanceship. Cas was keeping no other children besides Emma, and Dean managed to convince him to stay late and chat more often than not. Soon, they were meeting on weekends without Emma. Dean thought it might be awkward, because she'd always been their common ground. But they found that they had other interests in common – reading, for one. And when Dean found out that Cas had never watched Star Trek he made it his mission to show it to him, and they spent almost every weeknight on Dean's old sofa watching it.

The first time they kissed was near the end of the school year. Cas was the one to push away from Dean and move across the sofa, Star Trek still playing in the background.

"There's a strict no-fraternization policy at work," Cas murmured.

Dean shrugged. "Then we don't tell them."

"I can't lose my job, Dean. I can't. I – you have to know, I want this, too. But I can't." Cas looked at him with pained eyes, begging him to understand. Dean nodded slowly with a frown.

"Alright. But unless I find someone else, you'll be working for me for… well, at least three more years. And I don't wanna find someone else, Cas – Emma adores you, man. And, well, you deserve the money while you're working on America's Next Great Novel."

Neither of them knew that Emma had seen the kiss.

Things were tense for a while, with the weight of the things they both knew but couldn't act on. When they noticed that it was affecting Emma's mood they tried to get their act together. In the summertime, Cas showed up before Dean went to work and stayed with Emma until he came home and then stayed late watching TV with Dean.

The second time they kissed was after Emma's tenth birthday party. Everyone else had gone home, they'd finished clean up, and they were sitting tangled together once again on Dean's sofa.

"In a year she'll be eleven and she can stay home alone," Dean whispered, touching their foreheads together. "And then I can fire you and take you on a date. If you'll still have me, that is."

Cas laughed. "I'd be honoured to go on a date with you in a year."

Dean smiled and gave him a chaste kiss. "I'll mark my calendar then."

Within the next year, Cas got a publishing deal. Dean kissed him the night he found out.

"It'll still be a while before it comes into print," Cas reminded him.

Dean grinned. "But now you know it _will_ be in print."

Cas couldn't help the elated look that lighted up his features. "Yeah, it will."

They slept together for the first time on Emma's eleventh birthday, after Dean informed _Angel Sitting_ that he no longer needed a nanny. Cas' lips were on his almost before he'd hung up the phone.

When they told Emma over breakfast the next day that they were together, she scrunched up her face and looked at them in confusion. "But I thought you were dating since you met."

The book was published three months later. Cas, who stayed more often at Dean's house than at his own small apartment, brought home an advanced copy and showed Dean the dedication with a smile.

_To Dean and Emma, the two greatest things to happen to me._


End file.
